Rental cars have hard lives full of frequent abuse from hoons and careless drivers alike, but Mercedes-Benz’s parent company Daimler apparently took it to a whole new level. According to a report in Germany’s Der Spiegel, Daimler rented a Tesla Model X to test and dismantle for research purposes. Not purchased—rented.

Formula One is testing in Bahrain this week, and surprise! McLaren had issues. Sauber, one of two teams yet to score a point this season, logged 106 laps of the Bahrain International Circuit on Tuesday, per Autoweek. Fellow pointless team McLaren only got 16 laps done that day, thanks its Honda power unit, which still…

I’m not sure which one is worse: the hyper-insane cult of the Nürburgring lap time, or the backlash against it. While it’s only healthy to be skeptical of every self-announced manufacturer ‘ring time, I’m all for track testing cars that aren’t meant to go on track if we’re serious about this “fun to drive” thing.

Many of the 1.5-mile oval tracks on NASCAR’s schedule have an unfortunate nickname: “cookie cutter.” They’re not known for the most interesting racing in the world. However, most do have an alternate, often unique road course layout that other series use. Why doesn’t NASCAR race there instead?

IMSA’s big test weekend ahead of the 24 Hours of Daytona, the Roar Before the 24, was this weekend. Videos from the Roar have been trickling onto the internet, showing those of us who weren’t there all of the sweet new endurance cars that will try to win one of the most grueling endurance races in the world.

For those of us bored in the drought of no rally left after Rally China was cancelled from this year’s World Rally Championship schedule, Volkswagen has a peace offering. Their Polo WRC car was spotted testing in Portugal, and my stars, it’s loud and fast.

Lest we mistake them for vaporware, autonomous racing series Roborace has a “DevBot” that looks suspiciously like a real car. It has a standardized safety cell for a driver and all. Only that cell isn’t there for what is likely that most terrifying joyride on the planet—it’s for testing and development.

The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1's new 6.2-liter supercharged V8 doesn’t just sound good on paper. The latest footage of the ZL1 testing on the Nürburgring sounds unbelievably good even through the cheesiest phone speakers. (Plus, they kept it off a wall this time.) Find a good sound system and crank this engine note up to…

Behold, the most aggressive Yaris ever made, testing in full camouflage. Next year’s World Rally Championship cars promise to be some of the most aggressive looking ones in years, and even Toyota’s humble Yaris is no exception.

For years, Škoda was seen as a joke in the car world; an Eastern Bloc export crapcan in the vein of the Yugo. VW decided to turn the company around in the mid 2000s, and they needed a way to dramatically prove the new cars weren’t shit.

Just like the automobile industry, destructive testing is the dark side of aircraft development. The fact is airframes have to be tested to their breaking point in order to ensure that they can withstand daily operational abuse in all types of conditions. When it comes to this extreme mode of testing, helicopters can…

One day after his 23rd birthday, Loris Baz was having a lovely afternoon testing his MotoGP bike at the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia (where I just rode the new Kawasaki ZX-10R) when the soft compound Michelin rear tire he was riding on blew up—at 180 mph.

While the East Coast turns into a less-than-wonderful winter wonderland, the Department of Defense can rest assured that even their most advanced and finicky aircraft left out in the cold will be just fine. This piece of mind comes from testing done at the U.S. Air Force’s one-of-a-kind torture chamber: the McKinley…

Rumors of the Nissan LMP1 program’s possible demise may have been a tad overblown. Not only was the GT-R LM Nismo out running laps at Circuit of the Americas, but they were testing out some interesting aerodynamic upgrades and meaty brake cooling ducts. Here’s a gallery for your up-close viewing pleasure, plus what…

The United States Navy’s been having a lot of problems getting its electromagnetic catapult system, known as EMALS, to work reliably on its new aircraft carriers. But just because things aren’t reliable from the get-go doesn’t mean their testing doesn’t look neat as hell.

According to Motorsport.com, Ford plans to release its new GT race car at a venue near and dear to the original GT40’s heart: Le Mans. Hopefully the reveal is somewhere near the AF Corse pits for maximum lulz.

General Electric’s development team just completed a year of field-testing for the new Evolution Series Tier 4 locomotive. Some of the tests took place at the Federal Railroad Administration’s high-altitude testing circuit near Pueblo, Colorado at an elevation of 5,000 feet. These photographs capture the train’s…